“New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings”.
Welcome to break-up season. It’s a true but very sad fact that as the holiday season has drawn to to an end and we all say goodbye to another year passed many also say goodbye to their relationships, opting for a new year and a fresh start either by going solo or searching for a new someone. December has a track record of infidelity rates peaking due to party season and as we all spend a compressed amount of time with our loved ones, if there are any cracks in communication, chemistry or compatibility they can certainly start to show.
During the first working week of every new year there seems to be a surge in those investigating how to file for the finale in their marriage, ’Blue Monday’ in particular is the most popular day of the year to start the proceedings or delve a little deeper into what divorce entails.There are a good few reasons break-ups occur in January each year -
#1. The holiday season can be a trying time set with huge expectations for ultimate happiness. After all, isn’t it supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year? There is an awful amount of pressure to have the most perfect time and bringing both sides of the family together, especially if they don’t always see eye-to-eye, can strain a couple that may already be conscious that things are not quite as they would want them to be in their relationship.
#2. Some people may have already made the decision to go their separate ways before the holiday season but bide their time to break-up in order to avoid conflict with family and ruin the holiday season of their partner. They wait until New Year for a new start. Others that are teetering on the edge of heart-break hotel wait until the holiday season has passed by as a quiet test in the relationship to see if a break-up is what one really wants or time together can pull the relationship through.
#3. When regrouping with the family and the other half, especially after the last push of the working year, it can become obvious if there has been a lack of communication or perhaps a communication break-down as you end up actually spending quality time together. The pressure of spending more time together than usual can bring to the forefront of your mind if there are any cracks in communication or in fact, cracks in the relationship overall.
#4. The time over the holidays is ultimate down-time and there really is time alone with one’s thoughts away from the day to day pressures of work, rush-hour travel and meetings and so there is really no avoiding looking away from our professional life and reflecting on the most important part, our personal lives. Sometimes there can be overall unhappiness in someones life and they think by changing a relationship status of finding someone new that this will fix all the pieces together of the puzzle. Moving away from routine and reflecting on many aspects really can mean make or break.
As a matchmaker I see enquiries for finding love soar by around 60% between the holiday season and Valentine’s day on the 14th February because many start a brand new year with momentum to find their match. Perhaps there is a rush to fill a void and replace relationships that once were or the idea of starting a new year and finding a new love is at the forefront of singles minds. In either case, it’s my job to find out if singles are ready to navigate again the search for their someone or have a case of the January break-up blues.